By Majirata Latela
Mourners gathered at Ha Thamae, one of the villages in Maseru on Friday, to send off a loved who had succumbed to a ‘bad flu’, but whose real cause of death is unknown because a post mortem was never conducted.
About 200 people attended the funeral, which is way in excess of the 50 permitted for funerals and 100 for all outdoor gatherings. On a positive note, they all wore masks and observed social distancing. The service started at exactly 7:00am and was over by 9:00am.
At another funeral at Sekamaneng, where the deceased was confirmed to have died of Covid-19, the remains were taken from the mortuary straight to the burial site. Social distancing, as well as wearing of masks were also done properly.
The funeral service was very short, and only a few men and family members were allowed to go to the cemetery.
It is only this past week when the Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro announced that the country has moved back to the tighter Orange level restrictions due to the current spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths.
The official death toll from Covid-19 stands at 85. However, recent reports of funeral parlors suddenly running out of both coffins and space in mortuaries suggests the official figure could be just a tip of the iceberg.
